Not sure how but I have managed to pick up a nasty cold this week and have been desperately trying to avoid giving it to Pete in his current weakened state 🤣🤣 (well, his immune system’s weakened state anyway…).

I realise with my reported hip, back, hand & wrist pain and now this cold, I might have started sounding like a hypochondriac! Did you know that Hypochondria is now known as “Illness Anxiety Disorder”? No, I didn’t either…

I wouldn’t say I have “intense, persistent worry” that I may have a “serious, undiagnosed” illness which causes me “significant distress and life disruption” although with my various aches and pains, I do wonder what’s wrong with me a bit more often than I maybe used to and blame this on Pete’s out-of-the-blue cancer diagnosis! After all, how can a outwardly fit and healthy man suddenly have Stage 4 cancer which has spread to three different parts of his body? Psychologically, you cannot help sometimes thinking, if it can happen to him, then mightn’t I also have some undiagnosed problem with me too?

Honestly though, it’s not something I dwell on but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it sits there at the back of my brain and pops up every now and then… 😆 I probably just need to accept the aches & pains I experience are likely just part of the joy of getting older and unwanted (& unexpected!) outcomes of the menopause including stress incontinence when I cough – what fun! 🤣🤣🤣

Despite having this rotten cold all week, which incidentally has led to us sleeping in separate bedrooms in order to hopefully avoid Pete picking up an infection, (it’s like having COVID in the house again but seems to be working so far!), I was starting to feel a bit better today…

As today (11th December) is the day of Chemo #5 for Pete, it’s been a week of blood tests for him… it started on Monday morning with the planned, pre-treatment blood test. Then a phone call from the Macmillan nurse team at the Borders General Hospital to say they would need to reschedule the chemo by one week to the 18th December as his white blood count was too low (which apparently sometimes happens…)… We were both disappointed by this as we had hoped Christmas Day would be on Pete’s “up” week (usually the 3rd week after chemo) and pushing treatment back a week, meant that we would have to have the nice, traditional Turkey dinner we had planned for Christmas Day at New Year instead! 🙁

On Tuesday (9th December), not only did our long-awaited new sofa & chair get delivered (why do sofas take so long to arrive? We ordered it at the end of August so it was definitely on the slow boat from China!), but Pete got another call from the MacMillan team reinstating his chemo for today! Hooray!

Apparently, the nurse team had spoken to Pete’s consultant (Dr Alison at Edinburgh) and, as long as another blood test showed something or other, she wanted the treatment to go ahead as planned… so Pete shot off to the medical centre again to try and get another urgent blood test done and they did it there and then, holding back the driver who takes all the day’s tests up to the BGH, and by mid-afternoon the Macmillan team had confirmed all was well and the treatment was back on!

So today we have made the journey up to Melrose and saw our first Scottish Borders Red Squirrel when it crossed the road in front of us near Bonchester Bridge… marvellous!

Whilst Pete had his chemo, I went & had some lunch & got the shopping in… The drive back in the dark was ok although I do struggle more with oncoming headlights of vehicles these days – especially those LED ones!

Now, because it is evening, my cold has come back with a vengeance and I feel like crap again… I am sure a good nights sleep would do me wonders so will keep my fingers crossed for tonight & am confident it will be well gone by Christmas…

What else have we been up to…?

Earlier in the week, I got the results from my recent blood test back which were clear, so at least my finger / hand problem is not down to rheumatoid arthritis – yippee! – and I probably just need a bit of hand physio which is what I originally thought… I will make another appointment with the doc once my cold has passed.

We spent part of the past week getting our bedroom ready for its new carpet to be laid. Of course, this involved taking the bed apart, moving all the furniture out, ripping up the old carpet & underlay etc. But it’s all done now and there’s no better feeling when moving into a new house, than getting new carpet!

The Christmas Light switch on event took place in the village last Saturday (6th December) – we didn’t go as I was starting to feel a bit ropey. Tonight, on the drive back from the ozzy was the first time we’ve seen them in the dark but here’s some pics I took of the nativity scene & tree the other day when we nipped to the shop…

So, all-in-all it’s been a pretty positive week for us despite Pete’s chemo & my cold!

Right, that’s it for now… my head is banging & I want to watch the final of Race Across the World! TTFN xxx